


Home and in My Arms

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Concern, Cuddles, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 10:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1466236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave finally makes it home from Hollywood and Dirk knows there should be a bit of anger there, but he can't find it. Not with their history and not with the emotions brewing somewhere deep down within his heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home and in My Arms

It was dark. It was really fucking dark and someone had just walked into the apartment. There were two thing that Dirk was aware of in his sleepy daze. One, nobody should’ve been coming in this late, or early, it was four in the morning. Two, he was going have to get up and possibly beat some sense into a guy.

Groaning, Dirk pulled himself out of bed, not bothering with his shades that would render him blind in the darkness, and he slipped out of his room. The hall was darker than his room, but he managed to see. He was used to the dark; he didn’t like opening blinds because he felt like someone might see him and recognize him as Dave Strider’s “young and elusive” brother. He made his way down the hall silently when the faint smell of. . . what was that? Was that. . . apple juice? Fuck it was apple juice, strong as the sun on an abnormally hot summer day in Texas. When he was younger, he always used to wonder how his brother managed to smell so strongly of apple juice, and only on the weekends. Other days, Dave smelled like cologne and soap and that was good, too.

(Better than good, really. As a ten year old that still had clinging issues, Dirk used to crawl up in Dave’s lap and fall asleep there, loving the smell of Dave, apple juice or soap. He’d been doing it since he was five and things had started going wrong at home. When their mom remarried, things started getting twisted around. Dirk still regretted not being strong enough to fight off the old man when he’d beat Dave up for trying to stop him from doing horrible things to Dirk. Sometimes he still had the nightmares. Bruised and crying thirteen and fourteen year old Daves weren’t pretty. So, when he graduated from college at eighteen, being a huge smartass, he picked Dirk up and managed to get legal custody of him. Things were tough for a few months but then Dave managed to climb the rock he’d been hitting head on and got sweet Bro and Hella Jeff made into a movie. It saved them)

“B-Bro?” Dirk asked curiously. Dave was supposed to be home over a month ago. Of course he didn’t come home. Instead, he just said ‘soon’, and he always said that. After sixteen years of knowing Dave, it was easy to get used to some broken promises and disappointment. It was hardly a disappointment anymore, really. He was only that much happier when he came home.

“Hey, kid.”

Dirk’s chest filled with warmth and he wanted to run crying into the kitchen where the voice came from, but he knew he shouldn’t. He knew he shouldn’t do a lot of things. One of them being that he shouldn’t be mad at Dave. He shouldn’t hold anything against him. No, he was working hard for a twenty-four year old that’d been raising Dirk since he was eighteen. As much as Dirk found himself lonely and upset, he couldn’t resent Dave. Instead of running and leaping at Dave, he groggily walked into the kitchen and rubbed his eyes.

“Welcome back,” he yawned.

Dave was sitting at the table, drinking apple juice. Dirk always stocked the fridge with it, even when there was no Dave home. It felt unnatural to not have some sitting there, in the fridge, waiting. Dave was thinner than Dirk remembered, though he wondered if it may be because he had bulked up within the last six months. Not that he cared which was which. Motherly instinct immediately said, “Feed him.” Who was Dirk to argue? He wanted Dave well fed and healthy. He was the only person Dirk could be around without feeling like he was too smart. The only person Dirk could be touched by without flinching. The person Dirk would sometimes get a text from at midnight and not sleep just because he couldn’t stand not talking to Dave.

Dave looked up at Dirk and smiled tiredly. “You’ve gotten some muscle, damn,” he sounded amused.

Dirk shook his head, a light chuckle escaping him. “I know. I’m finally hot, now. I’m gonna make you some food.”

There was no argument from his brother, only a slight nod. So, Dirk opened the cabinet, switched on a few small lights, and put some water in the ramen bowl. He knew Dave would be tired of nice meals at restaurants He heated it up all nice and put in the flavoring packet, then sat it before Dave with a fork. He pulled out peas and corn and heated those up, too. Just for good measure.

“You don’t have to feed me so much,” Dave protested after swallowing his third bite of the noodles. He gulped down some more apple juice. Spicy chicken was exactly that, spicy.

“I am,” he said. It came out a bit harsher than he meant. “Sorry, you’ve just lost weight is all. I’m worried,” he admitted.

He glanced over at Dave to see him smiling and. . . crying? His eyes widened, fear coursing through him. Dave must have sensed it.

“It’s nothing, I’m just happy. You’re a really fucking great kid.”

“Oh,” Dirk sighed. He pulled the food from the microwave and put it in front of Dave as well.

“Sit. Tell me about stuff going on.”

Dirk complied, slipping into a chair across from Dave. “Well, school is going well. College requires a lot of studying, but online courses are easier than going to college directly.” He thought for a moment. “I won that robotics thing without being pestered by media.” He watched Dave smile, and he smiled in return.

“How’s Jake?”

It was an innocent question. Dirk had forgotten to tell Dave. “We broke up.”

Dave choked on his peas. “What? Shit, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s cool.” Dirk waved it off. “I guess we haven’t really broken up. He just kinda stopped talking to me. He didn’t get killed or anything. He’s still talking to Roxy and Jane.”

A look of concern washed over Dave’s face, “How long?” He watched Dirk hold up four fingers. “Months?” A nod. “You should have told me, Dirk. I’m really sorry.”

Dirk shook his head. “You were busy. It’s not that big a deal. Maybe he’ll talk to me again soon.”

Dave nodded. Dirk was always one to have high hopes for those kind of things. He was glad to see that still present in his little brother. He finished off his food and put the dishes in the sink or in the trash, wherever they belonged.

“You and I should get to bed. My luggage is coming in the morning.”

Dirk nodded, getting up. He didn’t wait for Dave to go to his room. He was too tired. Instead, he just went and laid down. However, a minute later, the door creaked open and Dave came in, still in his suit. Dirk didn’t question it. He didn’t question it even when Dave laid down and buried his face into Dirk’s stomach and wrapped his arms around his waist. Dirk simply smiled and stroked his brother’s hair.

“You okay, Bro?” he asked. He knew Dave had a tendency to get into these kinds of moods and want to cuddle.

In reply, Dave let out a hum. “Just let me enjoy you right now. Okay?”

Dirk nodded silently. There was no way that he could shove Dave away. Having his warmth was nice and it sent happiness coursing through him like the water on those closed off tunnels in water parks that make kids scream because they are going so fast and it was too dark to see, so they just had to wait for that light at the end of the tunnel. It sent butterflies fluttering in his stomach. He wanted to hug Dave and tell him he loved him, maybe more than he should. He knew it was because he never saw Dave that he had such weird feelings, but sometimes he wondered if they’d get worse if Dave was home.

They fell asleep like that and when Dirk awoke, Dave was still there, curled up to him.

“Bro, you dork. I missed you.”

Dave just slept and Dirk didn’t dare to bug him. He didn’t want to.


End file.
